Friday, February 29, 2008

Daring Bakers Julia Child French Bread

When I first found that we were doing Julia Child's French Bread, I was astonished! Was it not February, should we not be doing chocolate or strawberries or some sexy dessert? But that was not the challenge, no it was/is bread. Mainly, I was scared. I'm not really good at yeast. I've killed it many times, usually when making pizza. My first time with yeast was making a King Cake for Mardi Gras. It didn't rise and when cooked it was doughy and raw, making me slightly frightened of the live ingredient. But I also, have been wanting to make bread for forever. Especially, after making my flat bagels that were more like discs. So I accepted the challenge, but I put it off. Oh I had the time at the beginning of the month to make the bread, but why make bread, when there is no one to bake it for. So I waited until moving back to Austin. I procastinated. But after deciding to take a day off from running and veg, I found it to be the perfect day for French Bread. So I went into the kitchen and got to it.I accidently boiled the water and had to let it sit until it was cool, of course after burning my pinkie. Mixed in the yeast and started following the instructions. After mixing everything, I let it double in volume. 3 and 1/2 hours later, I punched it down. I started molding them. I didn't understand the forming instructions, so I kind of did my own thing. I molded them into what I thought where to be correct. I let them rest and rise, again.Then I baked them, forgetting to set the time. Bang head against the wall, 6 hours of work to forget the timer!!! My only disaster. So I guessed the time, and waited. I did it with two batches of bread. Were they bad?Not really, but there was more hard crust on the first batch than actual bread. Did I not let it rise enough? Did I not do it right? I don't know. I can just assume it didn't rise enough. But I'm not defeated by my bread. I'll do it, again, when I have the time.

Despite your not being satisfied with the results, your photos of the bread are really really nice. I really liked the texture and shadow on those photos. I hope you did find something good to do with the bread.

Don't be afraid of yeast, it will rise eventually even if that water is totally cool. And yes, shaping the bread (any bread but especially French) is something about practice. Please try again? It's so much fun!(hey, they look fine and sexy!)